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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28650903">The Tide Where I Used to Be</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ky_lime_pie/pseuds/ky_lime_pie'>ky_lime_pie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foreshadowing, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Secrets, Sickfic, Team as Family</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:47:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,737</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28650903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ky_lime_pie/pseuds/ky_lime_pie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The change of seasons in the city is of little note to the Autobots. However, to a sick Sari Sumdac, the summer came along with an unfortunate sickness. Her friend Bumblebee attempts to help her, but to no avail.</p><p>When Skyfire manages to quickly lull her to sleep, Bumblebee is curious about how he can do it so effortlessly. Along the way, he learns some..unexpected information about his teammate.</p><p>(based in bromomentum's TFA skyfire AU, takes place early on in season one. the tags make this seem a lot more angstier than it really is.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Tide Where I Used to Be</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i adore bromomentum's jet twins AU. i also adore writing hurt/comfort. smash em together, and you get this. if this seems odd, it's probably because idk how to write about babies and related subjects. however, i do know how to write about being sick.</p><p>title from the mitski song 'because dreaming costs money, my dear'.</p><p>(edit 2/04/2020: added a few more words to make everything flow a bit better. also added a new ending!)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The air was stiflingly hot in the Autobot's base. The summer had brought the heat to the city of Detroit. Even in the night, it was warm outside.</p><p>Not that the Cybertronians living in the city really noticed, though. Their metallic bodies already ran hot enough, with the change in weather being barely noticed.Yet, even on the hottest days of the year, the little organic in Bumblebee's arms still bemoaned the chill going through her body. Sari shivered as she laid against Bumblebee's chassis. She was curled up in a large blanket that Ratchet had given her earlier.</p><p>"Don't you have any more blankets? I'm freezing." Sari asked. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes, pleading for reprieve from the clamminess that ran through her body.</p><p>"I dunno. I think Ratchet keeps them all in the med bay."</p><p>If only Ratchet or Optimus were awake, he thought. Maybe they knew more about Sari's temperature regulation problems. Then again, there was probably a difference in how Cybertronians dealt with abnormal system functions and how humans did. But, everyone else was in recharge, while Bumblebee stayed up to take care of Sari.</p><p>"That blows." She remarked. She shifted around, attempting to find comfort. Bumblebee felt her lay her small head on his windshield. "I wish you guys had a real couch. Not just some crummy stone slab that Bulkhead melded together."</p><p>"Hey," Bumblebee protested. "Bulkhead worked very, very hard on our furniture. This couch took him a long time to build, especially with Ratchet's back struts."</p><p>Sari smiled, and looked up at Bumblebee with a weak grin. Pity filled the mini-bots processor as he smiled back. If only he knew what to do to fix the bug in her systems. It had been torturing her for days. Suddenly, before their argument could progress further, large pede steps were heard.</p><p>"What kind of bot could possibly be up at this time of night?" The particular, heavily accented voice of Skyfire filtered through Bumblebee's audials. "It is far too late for..Bumblebee?"</p><p> Looking up, Bumblebee saw the weary looking shuttle. A neutral expression was on his face, with his intake turned slightly into a frown.</p><p>"Ah, Skyfire..what're you doing up so late?" The minibot asked.</p><p>"I could ask the same of you. I heard noise, and.." Skyfire's optics darted away to the hallway. "I went to check what was going on."</p><p>He walked over to the seating area, and attempted to sit on the other side of the couch. The problem, though, was that Skyfire was a big mech. He was much larger than the skyscrapers that Bumblebee often passed by in the city, and was similar in mass to Bulkhead. The flier's body kind of squashed Bumblebee and his squishy friend to the edge of the couch.</p><p>"So, what's going on?" The flier asked.</p><p>"Oh, nothing much. Sari's just having some problems recharging tonight. She's got a glitch in her system."</p><p>Skyfire looked at the organic with optics full of concern.</p><p>"A glitch in her systems? That sounds awful." He asked. Sari rolled her eyes.</p><p>"It's called the flu, guys." She clarified. "And it's not that I don't wanna sleep. I don't feel good. My entire body hurts, and it's been all sore and achy."</p><p>Sari sighed, and shifted around again.</p><p>"And the pain just doesn't go away. It stays there."</p><p>By the time the girl was done speaking, Skyfire had a sympathetic expression on his face. He knew what it was like to be in such a situation. He reached a servo out to her, and carefully gave her a pat on the head with his digits.</p><p>"There, there, little one. You're too young to be so stressed." His voice was consoling. "Hey, you know what? I think I have an idea. May I pick you up?"</p><p>Sari nodded, and Bumblebee watched as Skyfire carefully scooped Sari up in the palm of his servo. He held her gently, like she was precious cargo.</p><p>"When I was a little sparkling, my creator used to let me sleep inside of her cockpit. She used to let me curl up inside, right up against her chestplate. It worked every time." Skyfire opened up his large cockpit, and then looked to Sari. "Would you like to try that, Sari?"</p><p>After a moment of deliberation, Sari nodded. Skyfire was careful as he placed her small body inside of himself.</p><p>"Wow, Skyfire, it's awfully dark in here. And it's pretty warm." Sari noted. She nestled up inside, curling up in her blanket.</p><p>"Oh," the Shuttle was caught off guard by the compliment. "thank you?"</p><p>The young girl laughed at his reaction. Bumblebee watched as Skyfire sighed, and closed his cockpit, lightly closing the hatch. In the clear, tinted blue glass, he could still see Sari's small form.</p><p>"Just tell me whenever you want to leave, alright?" He asked of her. Skyfire then let out a sigh, and relaxed into the couch. His engines turned on. A light rumbling sound was heard in the quiet of the night. Sari visibly relaxed, and closed her eyes. </p><p>Bumblebee watched as within twenty minutes, she fell asleep. He felt envy at his teammate for accomplishing what he tried to do so hard for the past hour or two within a few minutes. If all it took for Sari to pass out was the rumble of an engine, he would've just left her with the bossbot or maybe Bulkhead. He knew that the big guy had a nice, noisy engine. After all, he was the one who had to listen to it every single orbital cycle at boot camp.</p><p>"How did you get her sleep so fast?"</p><p>"It's nothing much, really. I used to do this all the time with the twins." Skyfire mused. He patted his cockpit, careful not to jostle Sari from her slumber. He appeared content, like one of those cats that Prowl brung around. "I think that it's the proximity to the spark chamber that lulls younglings to sleep."</p><p>Bumblebee's train of thought stopped instantly.</p><p>"Wait, up..twins? You have sparklings?" The racer's big blue optics widened in shock.</p><p>Skyfire's expression soured, turning from a lazy smile to a small frown.</p><p>"Well, I don't think they'd be sparklings anymore. They were born a couple years before the war, like you." He straightened himself out, bracing a hand on his chest as to not jostle the sleeping human. "But, before I went under, I did."</p><p>It was apparent that Bumblebee had struck a nerve, as Skyfire's tone had become quite dower. It was similar to the tone that he used when he was talking about his conjux, or about old Cybertron. Bumblebee immediately tried to eliminate the tension.</p><p>"Oh, no, Skyfire, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you."</p><p>"No, no, it's okay, little one. I understand why you might be curious." Skyfire smiled, with a bit of hesitation. "I am a mech of many secrets, after all."</p><p>Bumblebee didn't laugh at the joke. </p><p>"So, it's not too much, can you tell me about your kids?" Bumblebee asked. He quickly followed it up with a disclaimer. "If you don't wanna talk, I'll back off."</p><p>"No, Bumblebee, it's fine. I would love to tell you about them."</p><p>For a moment, Skyfire looked up to the sky, and out of the large windows on the ceiling. He rested his helm on his servo, and relaxed on the couch.</p><p>"Well, they were very spirited..kind of like how Sari is. Very energetic. I was always running circles around them." Skyfire rubbed the side of his helm. "I remember this one time, they grabbed on to my wings. But, I didn't even notice until I tried to transform."</p><p>Skyfire chuckled, a nice and warm sound.</p><p>"My conjux was not amused."</p><p>"Wait, how could you just..not notice two sparklings hanging off you?" Bumblebee asked, with his faceplates twisted in confusion.</p><p>"I'm a very big mech, Bumblebee. And the twins were very small. Almost too small." Bumblebee watched as Skyfire reclined on the couch. The shuttle sighed. "Most grounder sparklings aren't as big as flight frames. They weren't as heavy as flight frames either."</p><p>For a minute, the pair of mechs sat in contemplative silence. Bumblebee was trying to process all of the information that Skyfire had given him. Then, Bumblebee asked a question.</p><p>"Hey, Skyfire?" He asked. Skyfire's audial fins perked up. "What were their names?"</p><p>"Oh, why do you ask?"</p><p>"Well, if they're the same age as me, maybe we went to boot camp together. Though, I don't remember seeing any grounders that look like you in my classes.." Bumblebee fell silent for a moment, before perking back up. "Hey, maybe when we get back to Cybertron, I could help you find them!"</p><p>"Help me find them?" Skyfire asked. His voice was beginning to grow staticy. "Thank you for the offer, little guy, but it's been so long. I don't even think they had proper designations before I left. I don't even know if they would recognize me...or accept me."</p><p>"Well, why wouldn't they accept you, Skyfire?' Bumblebee asked. "You're their creator. I know that if I had a long lost creator who came knocking, I would probably accept them with open arms.."</p><p>Bumblebee scratched the back of his neck before speaking up again.</p><p>"Well, if I had creators, anyways. I was a molded mech."</p><p>The shuttle was quiet, before he looked directly down at his teammate. He was smiling. His optics shone, even though they were teeming with coolant.</p><p>"Thank you, Bumblebee." Skyfire said in a husky tone. He patted the minibot's head with his servo. "You're such a good friend."</p><p>"Hey, there's no need to cry, big guy. It's no problem. I'm sure that your sparklings are out there somewhere. If they're as hardy as you are, they've got to be."</p><p>"Oh, Bumblebee.." Skyfire chuckled. </p><p>"What if they're scientists like you and your conjux? Oh, or maybe they're in the Elite Guard. Man, could you imagine how awesome that would be? Kicking the slag out of baddies, defending Cybertron from those evil Decepticons.."</p><p>Bumblebee began to trail off, rambling on and on endlessly about the Elite Guard. But, Skyfire didn't mind. He enjoyed listening to the younger mech's ideas. The energy and the enthusiasm Bumblebee had reminded him of the ambition that his partner had.</p><p>"Hmm..isn't that a thought to entertain?"</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>DO NOT REPOST OR REUPLOAD MY WORK.</p><p>tumblr @ky-lime-pie</p><p>SPECIAL THANKS TO: BROMOMENTUM, AND THEIR AU COMICS.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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